CARDINGTON with EASTCOTTS

Cardington is an extensive parish, covering nearly
5,339 acres, of which 1,480¾ acres are arable land,
1,146 acres are permanent grass and 14 acres woods
and plantations. (fn. 1) The parish is watered by Cardington
Brook, a feeder of the Ouse. The land slopes from
the south-east (where it is 276 ft. above the ordnance
datum) to the north, which lies low and is subject
to floods. The soil is principally gravel and clay,
the chief crops produced being wheat, barley, beans,
peas, potatoes and turnips.

The village occupies a west central position in the
parish, and is grouped around a central village green.
The parish church of St. Mary is on the east of this
green, and further north is Howard Villa, for several
years the residence of John Howard, the philanthropist.
There are several 18th-century houses on the south
side of the green, and a few half-timbered cottages
are scattered through the village. The Bedford and
Hitchin branch of the Midland Railway has a station
at the western extremity of the village, where many
modern cottages have recently sprung up. Part of the
old stone manor farm is still to be seen some three-quarters of a mile south of the village of Cardington on the
Warden road. It is surrounded by an extensive moat.

In the village is the Howard Reading Room,
which was erected on the occasion of the centenary
of John Howard's death by Mr. Samuel Whitbread
of Southill Park. On the banks of the Ouse in the
north of the parish is the old Cardington Mill, south
of which is Cardington Cross, erected in 1837 by
William Henry Whitbread. An earlier one dating
from 1796, of which the octagonal base and part of
the shaft are still to be seen, formerly stood in the
corner of a field between the two Bedford roads.

Chapel End is an outlying part of the village with
farms and two chapels, one of which is a Wesleyan
chapel erected in 1823, and the other a small chapel
in connexion with the Bunyan Meeting. (fn. 2)

Cotton End is a scattered hamlet with a school on
the London road and a farm of the same name at
the extreme south of the hamlet. The large Baptist
chapel at Cotton End was founded in 1777, and
kept a non-parochial register between the years 1796
and 1837. (fn. 3)

Harrowden and Fenlake are small hamlets lying
in the north-west of the parish, and in the former
there is a Wesleyan chapel. Harrowden is approached
from Bedford by a small private road running south
from the road to London. This road crosses the
railway and two brooks and becomes a pleasant lane
bounded on either side by hedges and high trees
with occasional houses and cottages scattered along
the sides. It runs into Cardington and joins the
road between the village and the Bedford to Roxton
road. In the yard of a homestead at the west end
of the lane there is a small square plastered pigeon-house with a tile roof, while near a large modern
farm-house on the south side of the lane after crossing
the London road there is a more ornate structure
built of brick with a tile roof, the hips being carried
to an apex from which project four small triangular
gables. Through the bottom of these gables and
through circular openings in their vertical faces the
pigeons have access to the interior.

A little lace-making is still done in the parish. An
Industrial school, in which, among other things, lace-making was taught, was started by Miss Whitbread
at the end of the 19th century, but it was afterwards
abandoned. Mrs. Berrington, a famous centenarian
lace-worker, died in 1909. There is now no straw-plaiting in the parish.

In the middle of the hamlet of Cotton End,
standing back on the east side of the road, is the
late 16th-century manor-house now used as a farm
building. It is built of brick with stone dressings,
and was originally of H-shaped plan with a projecting
central porch and inclosing brick garden walls coming
down to the roadway, but the south wing of the
building has now entirely disappeared and parts
of the garden walls are missing, while a small out-house has been added at the back. The house is
otherwise in a good state, although many of the
stone mullions have been restored and partitions
erected in some of the large rooms. To the north
of the entrance porch which led into the hall is a
partition dividing it from the servants' quarters, while
on the south the north wall of the destroyed wing
separated the hall from the living rooms. The hall
fireplace was in the middle of the east wall between
two mullioned and transomed windows, each of two
lights, and on the west was a three-light window of
similar character. In the partition on the north side
were three doors, of which two still remain. The
centre one led down into the cellars, the eastern one
up a few steps into a large pantry, while the third
opened into a wide passage leading along the front of
the house to the staircase and kitchen, and was lighted
by a window similar to that on the other side of the
porch. The kitchen was in the north-east corner
of the building, while in the front were an inclosed
staircase and a small panelled room opening from
the kitchen. On the first floor were two bedrooms,
one over the kitchen and the other over the panelled
room, while above the whole of the hall block was a
large gallery, now divided into compartments, lighted
from both sides, with a fireplace on the east and a
most elaborate panelled plaster ceiling with a frieze
of amorini with grapes and foliage. Down the
middle of the ceiling are five geometrical panels, the
central one having a shield of arms, a cheveron
ermine between three hunting horns impaling an
escallop, while in the others are Scriptural subjects;
the panels round the border contain fleurs de lis,
pomegranates, birds and foliage. The staircase continued up to some garrets above. The elevation to
the roof was symmetrically designed, the projecting
end block having a gable coped with stone, while the
chimneys are of brick with moulded capitals and bases.

Palæolithic stone tools have been found in large
numbers in Cardington, Fenlake and Harrowden. (fn. 4)
There are also mediaeval earthworks in Cardington
and Cotton End. (fn. 5)

In 1400 Pope Boniface IX issued an indulgence
for the repair of the wooden bridges of Cardington
and Harrowden. (fn. 6)

The parish of Cardington was inclosed by Act of
Parliament in 1802, (fn. 7) and the three hamlets of Cotton
End, Harrowden and Fenlake, while remaining
ecclesiastically annexed to Cardington, have been
formed for civil purposes into a separate parish under
the name of Eastcotts, according to the provisions of
the Local Government Act of 1894.

MANORS

In 1086 Hugh de Beauchamp held
6½ hides and two-thirds of a virgate
in Cardington which had formerly
belonged to thirteen sokemen. (fn. 8) This estate follows
the same descent as the barony of Bedford (q.v.). On
the partition of the lands of John de Beauchamp, who
was slain at Evesham in 1265, the manor was subdivided; the principal portion, known as CARDINGTON MANOR, passed to Joan daughter of Ela de
Beauchamp, who married, first, Michael Picot, and
afterwards Ralph Paynell. (fn. 9) The latter died seised of
the manor, and was succeeded about 1318 by John
Picot son of Baldwin, and probably nephew of Joan's
first husband. (fn. 10) John Picot died in 1336–7, when
his son John succeeded him. (fn. 11) After his death in
1361 his wife Isabel held the manor until 1375, when
she was succeeded by her son Baldwin Picot. His
daughter and heir Dorothy married James Gascoigne,
son of the well-known judge, and the manor passed
to the Gascoigne family. (fn. 12) Sir William Gascoigne,
grandson of the judge and Controller of the Household to Cardinal Wolsey, died in 1540. (fn. 13) His son
Sir John Gascoigne made various settlements of the
manor previous to his death in 1568, after which date
his wife Margaret Gascoigne held Cardington for her
life, and was succeeded by her son John, who held in
1586. (fn. 14) John Gascoigne left two daughters and
co-heirs: Dorothy wife of Sir Gerard Harvey of
Thurleigh, and Elizabeth wife
of Sir George Blundell. (fn. 15)
Cardington Manor passed to
Elizabeth, whose husband
died in 1627, and remained
in the Blundell family for
more than a hundred years,
passing from Sir George
Blundell, who died in 1688,
to his only son George, who
died in 1709. Another
George Blundell owned it
in 1731, and died in 1756, (fn. 16)
and the manor was purchased
from William Nailour Blundell and Mary Nailour, who derived title under
his will, in 1769 by Samuel Whitbread, who died
in 1796. (fn. 17) It has since followed the same descent
as that of Old Warden (q.v.), the present owner
being Mr. Samuel Whitbread of Southill Park.

Gascoigne. Argent a pale sable with a conger's head or thereon.

Blundell of Cardington, baronet. Azure ten billets or and a quarter or with a raven sable therein.

Whitbread. Argent a cheveron between three hinds' heads razed sable.

Courts leet pertained to Cardington Manor. (fn. 18) The
right of free warren was allowed to William de
Beauchamp in 1287, and was confirmed to his
descendants in 1304 and 1329. (fn. 19) Assize of bread and
ale was also claimed in 1287 and 1330. (fn. 20)

Tithes of Cardington water-mills were granted by
Simon de Beauchamp to Newnham Priory. These
mills remained in the possession of the lord of the
manor, and one is still in use. (fn. 21) In it there is a stone
slab recording that it was rebuilt by Samuel Whitbread
in 1786 with Smeaton as engineer, that it was
destroyed by fire in 1823, and rebuilt by William
Henry Whitbread the next year, and that it was again
destroyed by fire in 1840, and again rebuilt by
William Henry Whitbread in the same year. (fn. 22)

The land later known as WAKE MANOR became the property of Ida, another daughter of Ela de
Beauchamp, who married
John de Steyngreve. It
followed the same descent as
Wake Manor in Bromham
(q.v.), passing from the
Steyngreves to the Patishulls
and the Wakes, but after the
death of Sir Thomas Wake
in 1458 no further mention
has been found of this property, which may have
become absorbed in the
larger manor of Cardington. (fn. 23)

Wake. Or two bars gules with three roundels gules in the chief.

The inheritance of Beatrice,
the youngest sister of
John de Beauchamp, formed a third CARDINGTON
MANOR. (fn. 24) This followed the same descent as
Bromham Manor (q.v.), passing to John de Botetourt,
her son-in-law, and later to the Latimers and Nevills
of Raby until the death of Sir John Nevill Lord
Latimer in 1577, (fn. 25) when his Cardington property
passed to his second daughter Dorothy, the wife of
Thomas Earl of Exeter. The latter died in 1622–3,
and was succeeded by his son William, who died in
1640. His nephew and heir, David Earl of Exeter,
died three years later seised of lands in Cardington, (fn. 26)
but no further trace of the manor has been found.
Exeter Wood and land forming part of the estate
were purchased by Samuel Charles Whitbread in
1879 from Lord Exeter. (fn. 27)

In 1086 Nigel de Albini held a manor of 6 hides
in Harrowden, which 14 sokemen held freely under
King Edward the Confessor. (fn. 28) From its after-history
it is clear that the Albini land lay chiefly in Cotes,
represented by the modern hamlet of Cardington
Cotton End, and the overlordship of the barony of
Cainhoe (q.v.), of which it formed a part, is traceable
until 1541. (fn. 29) The manor of COTES alias COTTON
alias EASTCOTTS alias CARDINGTON COTTON
END followed the same descent as that of Clophill
(q.v.) until the death of Robert de Albini in 1233,
when it was divided between his three sisters Isabel,
Ascelina and Joan. (fn. 30) Ralph de St. Amand, husband
of Joan, and Isabel de Albini held here by knight
service in the 13th century, (fn. 31) but the manor
eventually passed to Almaric son of Joan and Ralph
St. Amand, and followed the same descent as Millbrook (q.v.). (fn. 32) From the St. Amands it passed, as in
the case of the second manor of Blunham, through
the Braybrookes, the Beauchamp St. Amands to
George Lord Cobham, who made various settlements of his property about 1534. (fn. 33) It was settled
in 1536 by Richard Osbaldiston on his wife Dorothy,
who died in 1541, four months after her husband,
and was succeeded by his son John. (fn. 34) The latter
alienated Eastcotts Manor in 1544 to Sir John
Gascoigne, (fn. 35) who appears to have mortgaged it
about 1566 to Thomas Colby of London, (fn. 36) an
action which was fruitful in law-suits. Colby's
interest in the manor eventually descended to his
daughter Dorothy and her husband Philip Lord
Wharton, who conveyed it by fine for £600 between
the years 1612 and 1613 to Robert Mildmay and
John Cason. (fn. 37) A further alienation took place, for in
1633 Sir Arthur Savage died seised of the manor, and
was succeeded by his son Thomas, (fn. 38) but by 1693 it
was in the possession of Charles Palmer, who bought
it from Laurence Purchase. In 1770 the manor
belonged to another Charles Palmer, (fn. 39) whose daughter
and heir Dorothy sold it in 1779 for £4,000 to
Samuel Whitbread of Cardington, (fn. 40) since which time
the descent has remained in the Whitbread family, (fn. 41)
following that of the principal manor of Cardington.
Manorial courts were held twice a year at this manor
during the 15th century, the roll for the year
1454–5 being at the present time in the British
Museum, (fn. 42) but no later reference to these courts has
been found.

The rights of the assize of bread and ale were
claimed in Cotes under Edward I and free warren
under Henry IV. (fn. 43)

The value of the manor was estimated in 1310
at £9 5s. 8d., in 1400 at £15, in 1427 at £22 8s.,
and in 1541 at 20 marks beyond reprises. (fn. 44)

A fifth manor in this parish, that of FENLAKE
BARNS alias CARDINGTON PRIORS or REGINE,
has its origin in the 3 hides which the canons of
Bedford held of the Countess Judith in Harrowden
and which Azelin had owned before the Conquest. (fn. 45)
This land evidently passed to the barony of Bedford,
for 3 hides in Harrowden together with Cardington Church formed part of the endowment of
Newnham Priory by Simon de Beauchamp c. 1166. (fn. 46)
In 1291 the priory possessions in Eastcotts, Fenlake
and Harrowden were valued at £1 15s. 4d., (fn. 47) and
many small grants were afterwards made in all these
places. (fn. 48) The manor of Fenlake Barns owed service
to the barony of Cainhoe in 1346, in 1428 to the
barony of Bedford. (fn. 49)

The priors of Newnham held the view of frankpledge twice a year at Fenlake Barns, and several
references are made to this court in the cartulary of
the priory, (fn. 50) while the right of free warren in Cardington and Eastcotts was granted by Richard II in
1385. (fn. 51) Fenlake Barns belonged to the priory at
the Dissolution, when its value was estimated at
£12 11s. 3¾d. (fn. 52) It remained in the possession of
the Crown, who leased it at various times. Thomas
Colby held it on lease c. 1579, (fn. 53) but in 1599 it was
granted to Michael and Edward Stanhope, (fn. 54) who
must have sold it soon afterwards, since Henry Foster
owned it at his death in 1625. (fn. 55) He was succeeded
by his son John, whose will was proved in 1658, and
whose son, another John, died without issue in 1667,
when his brother Charles succeeded to the property.
His death in 1669 was followed almost immediately
by that of his mother Rebecca Foster and his sister
Martha, co-legatees with his sisters Elizabeth and
Mary. (fn. 56) In 1718 Fenlake Barns belonged to John
White, who conveyed it in that year to Thomas
Bedford and Martha his wife. (fn. 57) The Rev. Thomas
Bedford, to whom it had descended under the will
of his grandfather's widow, sold it in 1779 for £720
to Samuel Whitbread, whose ancestors had lived in
Cardington from the earlier half of the previous century. (fn. 58) The manor has remained in the Whitbread
family, (fn. 59) following the same descent as Cardington
Manor (q.v.).

A sixth manor in this parish, that of EASTCOTTS,
belonged to Sopwell Priory, near St. Albans, in
Hertfordshire, and originated in a grant of 2 hides of
land made to that foundation in the time of Henry I
by Henry de Albini and his wife Cicely. This grant
was confirmed by Henry's son Robert when his sister
Amicia became a novice at the priory. Another
virgate was granted by Robert when his second sister
Cecily followed the example of Amicia. (fn. 60) Sopwell
Priory retained the manor until the Dissolution, when
it was worth £4 6s. 8d. (fn. 61) Half of this manor was
granted in 1544 to Sir Richard Lee, (fn. 62) but after this
subdivision no further trace of it has been found.

A third tenant in Harrowden, who is mentioned
in the Domesday Survey, was Ernui the priest. He
could not prove livery or show writ, but he took
possession of 1 hide of land, to the king's hurt, which
his father, who was a man of King Edward, had held
before him. (fn. 63)

Warden Abbey held land in Eastcotts granted in
1236 by Ralph de St. Amand, (fn. 64) which was granted
to John Gostwick at the Dissolution. (fn. 65) Elstow Abbey
also owned land held by knight service of the barony
of Cainhoe, (fn. 66) which was worth £1 1s. 0½d. at the
Dissolution. (fn. 67) In 1377 the hospital of St. Leonard,
Bedford, received a small grant of land in Cardington. (fn. 68)

CHURCH

The church of ST. MARY THE
VIRGIN was entirely rebuilt in 1898–1902 with the exception of the chancel.
It consists of chancel with north and south chapels,
nave with aisles and north transept, south porch and
west tower.

A few relics of the old church, which was most
unnecessarily destroyed, are built into the modern
walls. The tower arch is made up with the voussoirs
of a 12th-century arch, retooled and with a false
order cut on them. There are two 13th-century
capitals in the nave arcades. The south doorways of
the nave and south chapel and the north windows of
the north chapel are 15th-century work, and the
chancel walls and arcades, as already noted, are the
only part of the old building left in position. These
arcades, of two bays each side, are early 16th-century
work, with four-centred moulded arches, the east bay
in each arcade being taken up by a canopied 16th-century tomb, with archways to the chapels at the
west end of the tombs. On the northern tomb is
the very beautiful brass of Sir William Gascoigne and
his two wives. He wears a tabard of his arms,
and the wives' mantles are also heraldic. On the
cornice of the tomb are a vine-trail and the Gascoigne
crest, a luce's head erect between two ostrich
feathers, and in the middle a shield with Gascoigne
quartering Pigott and Beauchamp. On the north
side is a second shield with Gascoigne impaling a
fesse indented. Sir W. Gascoigne was controller of
Wolsey's household. (fn. 69) Against the east side of the
monument is an inscription to Cecill Bussy (only
son of Andrew son of John Bussy of Hather,
Lincs.), 1632, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter
and co-heiress of Sir Gerrard Hervey of Cardington,
with a shield of the arms of Bussy quarterly, 1 and 4,
Argent three bars sable, for Bussy, 2 and 3, Gules
a fesse indented argent in a border engrailed or, for
Nevill, impaling the arms of Hervey quartered with
Nernuite, Gascoigne and Pigott. The tomb on the
south side of the chancel is of the same character and
date, and bears the arms of Hervey impaling Gascoigne,
with the crest of Gascoigne in the cornice, and
the letters W. B. on either side of the arms. In
the 17th century the tomb was appropriated by Sir
Jarrate Hervey, 1638, a slab of polished limestone
bearing the brass figures of himself and his wife
Dorothy Gascoigne being set on the tomb, with pairs
of Doric pilasters at either end. The shield on the
cornice has the quartered coat of Harvey and Nernuite
impaling the quartered coat of Gascoigne, Pigott,
Wake, Beauchamp, Vinter and Scargill.

In the transept are several white marble monuments to the Whitbread family, and in the wall at
the east end of the south chapel are several 13th-century coffin lids and an earlier cross slab with
panels of interlacing work of 10th or 11th-century
date. Old piscinæ are reset in the chancel and both
chapels. There is in the north chapel a disused 16th-century communion table which has been cut short at
some time, mutilating an inscription which runs
round the top and bottom rails: 'Thoma[s] Watts
Deo dica [vit et] Templo [donav] it. Probet se
ipsum [h]omo et sic de pan [e illo] edat et de [calice]
bibat 157.' The font is modern, but there is in the
church a curious font, apparently of black glazed
pottery, dating from c. 1800, and ornamented with
classical figures and ornament of very delicate and
well-modelled character.

ADVOWSON

Cardington Church was included
in the foundation charter of Simon
de Beauchamp to Newnham Priory
about 1166 (fn. 70) and was named in the confirmation
charters of William de Beauchamp, of Henry II,
and of Thomas Mowbray Duke of Norfolk. (fn. 71) It
remained in the possession of the priory until the
Dissolution, when the advowson was worth £7 17s.
and the rectory £24. (fn. 72) In 1546 the Crown granted
both rectory and advowson to Trinity College, Cambridge, who owned them until 1902. (fn. 73) They were
then purchased by Mr. Samuel Whitbread, who
exercises the right of presentation at the present
day. (fn. 74)

The fraternity of Blunham owned one messuage
given for an obit worth 2s. 4d. yearly and 3 acres of
land valued at 2s. yearly, both of which were in the
tenure of the churchwardens. (fn. 75) Newnham paid 18d.
yearly to the churchwardens to provide one lamp in
perpetuity in the church of Cardington. (fn. 76)

CHARITIES

In 1661 Thomas Forster devised
a close containing 9 acres or there-abouts, at Cotton End, formerly
known as Bates's Close, but now as Town Close, and
let at £18 a year, for the poor of the township of
Eastcotts (see below), subject, under the will of his
uncle, Thomas Forster, 1647, to the payment of £5
a year for the poor of Cardington. The annuity
together with 5s. a year from a cottage at Wilstead
in respect of John Canning Howard's charity, and
10s. a year in respect of Whiteman's charity, received
from Samuel Whitbread, is distributed at Christmas
time in coals. In 1908 sixty-seven families received 1½ cwts. of coal each.

In 1697 Stephen Whitbread by his will devised
a house to be occupied by a widow not receiving
parish relief. The house was burnt down and rebuilt
by John Howard, the philanthropist, as two cottages,
which are occupied by two widows who pay 6d. a
week each as rent, which is applied in keeping the
cottages in repair.

The Whitbread Almshouses.

Samuel Whitbread
by deed dated 18 June 1788 (enrolled) settled a
fee-farm rent of £78 6s. 2¾d. issuing out of the
manor of Shillington, subject to the payment there-out of £10 yearly to the schoolmaster at Luton
under the will of Roger Gillingham, as an endowment of four dwelling-houses erected by him on
the Green as almshouses for poor decayed house-keepers, widowers, widows or single persons, regular
attendants on public worship, of sixty years of age or
upwards, who had resided in the parish for twenty
years or upwards; the number of inmates not to be
less than four or more than eight. The fee-farm
rent is also subject to deduction for land tax. In
1906 a sum of £115 5s. 6d. consols stood in the
names of the trustees; an allowance of £20 16s.
was made to four widows, £2 2s. to an attendant,
together with a supply of coal and clothing.

In 1888 the Rev. Maurice Farrell by will proved
in London 2 August (among other charitable legacies)
bequeathed a legacy for the poor of this parish, now
represented by £100 consols, with the official trustees;
the dividends of £2 10s. are in pursuance of a scheme
of the Charity Commissioners of 16 January 1891
applied in the distribution of clothing.

Peck's charity consists of £1 a year paid to the
incumbent for a sermon.

The Baptist chapel and trust property at the hamlet
of Cotton End, comprised in deeds of 1755, 1807
and 1846, consist of three cottages and about 5 acres,
producing £18 a year, £586 16s. 2d. consols, arising
from sales of land in 1873 and 1874, £150 consols
derived under the will of Elizabeth Whiteman, proved
in the P.C.C. 12 July 1803, and £100 consols by
will of George Brooks, 1817. The sums of stock
are held by the official trustees, producing in dividends
£20 18s. 4d. a year, which with the rents augmented
by pew rents and collections and £5 from Elizabeth
Priest's charity (see under Bedford), were in 1906
sufficient to pay to the pastor £100 and the chapel-keeper £5.

Charity of Thomas Forster (see above under Cardington parish).w

In 1906 the yearly rent of the
Town Close in Eastcotts, amounting to £13 after
payment of £5 to the poor of Cardington, was,
together with 5s. from the cottage of Wilstead in
respect of Howard's charity and £1 10s. received
from Samuel Whitbread out of land in Cardington
known as Harlestone's charity, applied in the distribution of £2 2s. to twenty-one poor widows and
in gifts of money to 652 recipients.

8.
V.C.H. Beds. i, 237b. Hugh also
held 3 hides 1⅓ virgates of the Countess
Judith (ibid. i, 260a). As the honour of
Huntingdon is not again found holding in
this parish it seems likely, as in the case
of Bletsoe and Harrowden, that this land
became merged in the Beauchamps' property.

22.
Beds. Times, 26 July 1901. In spite
of these fires there is much of Smeaton's
work still standing at the Cardington
Mill. He also built the beautiful bridge
over the Cardington brook leading to the
village.